Voluntary recall on Instinct Raw Chicken Formula for Dogs

Nature’s Variety has announced a voluntary recall of their Instinct® Raw Chicken Formula for dogs with a “Best By” date of 04/27/16 because these products may be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.

Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.

Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has the symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

The affected products are limited to the Instinct Raw Chicken Formula Frozen Diets packaged in the following forms:

Nature’s Variety has announced a voluntary recall of their Instinct® Raw Chicken Formula for dogs with a “Best By” date of 04/27/16 because these products may be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.

Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.

Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has the symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

The affected products are limited to the Instinct Raw Chicken Formula Frozen Diets packaged in the following forms:

The “Best By” date is located on the back of the package below the seal. The affected product was distributed through retail stores in the United States and limited distribution in Canada. No other Nature’s Variety products are affected.

No illnesses have been reported to date. Even though no illnesses have been reported, consumers should follow the Simple Handling Tips published on the Nature’s Variety package when disposing of the affected product.
Nature’s Variety became aware of a potential issue after receiving notification from the FDA that a routine surveillance sample of seven pound Instinct Raw Chicken Bites for dogs tested positive for Salmonella.

Consumers feeding the affected product should discontinue use and monitor their pet’s health, and contact their veterinarian if they have concerns. Consumers who have purchased one of the above products can obtain a full refund or exchange by either returning the product in its original packaging or bringing a proof of purchase back to their retailer.

Consumers with additional questions can call our Consumer Relations team at 888-519-7387 from 8 am to 7 pm Central time, 7 days a week during the recall. Or, consumers can email Nature’s Variety directly via cservice@naturesvariety.com.

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Comments 21

I knew NV would be next. It’s absolute harassment. Notice, how they are going after the bigger companies that offer raw. The ones most cutting into the profits of Hills and Nestle Purina. Probably this sort of harassment is illegal, but there is no way to stop it, is there?

Given the record of the FDA in sloppy collection, and their attitude towards raw vs. kibble or canned, I would side with the raw companies, personally. Dollars to donuts the FDA, being on a witch hunt, is not overly careful in collecting data — contaminating the samples themselves. Wouldn’t surprise me a bit.

Yes Susan – please do this!! Can we put it together quickly for August, so that it’s in the same testing period as their witch hunt? I was going to donate first and write this comment second, but I don’t see a place to do this. Let’s test some kibbles!
I would love to know if clean sampling protocols were used on this one, as it was one of the in store “routine surveillance” samplings. It seems very strange since it’s HPP. I’d also love to know if the company tested their own batches of the same date code and found anything

Since there is salmonella on raw food, maybe the FDA should be looking at acceptable limits for pets instead of these recalls. Usually the big issue is humans not animals. NV does a roaring business in kibble as well as raw so can’t see them being singled out over a company that just produces raw.

I bought this exact one being recalled in the 6 lb patty size. I have the one that is being recalled. We went thru all the patties without a problem. I plan to continue to buy Instinct Raw as this is a witch hunt as Nestle Purina, science diet, iams, ol roy, eucanuba, are all feeling the pain as pet owners become more informed about better pet food for their pets. Any food can have salmonella. The fda made this up as the fda is paid off by big commercial pet food to make it illegal to sell raw pet food for pets. Then we will buy human raw food and feed the pets, so then the fda will make all raw food illegal. Its all about money. The fda doesn’t care a a bit about health but about supporting the big commercial pet food companies that pay funds to the fda to protect big commercial pet food from competitors that they are scared of like raw pet food manufacturers, and any small pet food manufacturer. This is to protect big business, big profits, and crush the little guy. Bottom line!!! Buy Instinct Raw. Now I will buy several packages of Instinct Raw. My veterinarian recommends it as one of the best pet foods available. But I have an honest vet who tells pet owners to avoid big pet food like nestle purina, science diet, iams, eucanuba, o roy,…

Here’s a thought – sooner or later I think PURINA will launch their own line of RAW pet foods. They obviously know that consumers are spending a lot on these products and I’m sure they are carefully monitoring the statistics as to what percentage of the pet food market is made up of raw foods, and as that percentage grows, that piece of the market becomes ever more attractive. INSTINCT is a good example of a larger manufacturer that has found a way to (generally) make safe raw foods on a mass market scale. The FED is not going to eliminate raw products by increasing recalls of raw and as I and others have mentioned elsewhere, double standard or not, it’s good for consumers and pets that raw foods are being well monitored.

IF Purina creates a Raw food line, their raw foods will hopefully be monitored just like the others. And I totally agree with SUSAN’s idea to create a fund for testing dry kibble. I also wish there was a reasonably reliable HOME TEST KIT so consumers could test what they buy!

The Petsmart surveys one gets at times for a $3.00 discount is “now” asking a lot of questions they never asked before such as where do you shop the most & had several sites such as Chewey’s.com etc. Maybe they are getting with it & wanting to offer better food or prices. They sure don’t have much to offer but crap but do have Nature’s Variety now. If they were smart – they’d offer more. They ask too many questions on their surveys now if you ask me. I did not finish the last one, it was none of their business.

Don’t shop at PetSmart. They house Banfield, which pushes decalwing. In addition they (Petsmart) now own a number of smaller on line pet supply stores, which has greatly narrowed my resources. Only Natural Pet, Pet Food Direct, Pet 360, all owned by Petsmart. Chewy.com is about the only one they DON’T own now.

The FDA, in partnership with the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), has adopted a “zero tolerance” posture toward Salmonella, concerning the relatively easy transmission of the bacteria to humans (it is “zoonotic”). This, in part explains the seemingly endless stream of pet food recalls for the pathogen. The public hardly seems to pay attention any longer.

However, the enterobacteriaceae Salmonella, as an intracellular parasite, is a pathogenic bacteria that can affect dogs eating the product, and repeated feeding of contaminated food (even low level contamination) can lead to infection, and eventually, to life-threatening consequences.

Salmonella infection can become chronic, and is then regarded as a disease, leading to pronounced fever, weight loss, blood loss, non-intestinal infections, and repeated unpredictable/ spontaneous diarrhea (with attending organ-threatening dehydration) lasting for weeks. The infection can progress to septicemia (bacterial infection of the blood), which can be fatal. Many dogs can be asymptomatic carriers of the bacteria and may shed Salmonella for up to 100 days after being infected.

Regardless of my affection (or dislike) of a particular food or type of food, I would not want my dog exposed.

Kibble is covered with bacteria before the bag is even opened, and once opened the bacteria continues to grow. If you feed kibble to your pets, they are eating massive amounts of bacteria, along with the carbs (sugars) that help it grow even more, once ingested. ALL raw meat contains bacteria. That’s why HUMANS cook it. Carnivores on the opther hand have no trouble with it.

Would you drink out of a puddle on the street? Of course not, it would make you sick. Dogs and cats, however, can drink out of a puddle on the street with no impact.

No one is arguing that it’s not a good thing for pet owners to know if the food might contain a pathogen. However, the unequal fashion in which the FDA is riding raw vs. kibble (which has a far sketchier history with pathogens, mystery ingredients, drugs, and “oops how’d that get in there”) leaves their actions suspect to more than a few pet owners. If the FDA is truly concerned about human and pet health, they cannot ignore the numerous pathogens found in kibble. They cannot ignore the elephant in the room that is kibble!! Equal attention to ALL types of pet food is needed, not bias against one which is the newcomer on the scene and clearly making inroads into the old boy pet food industry kibble pie. That only leaves suspicions that this is a witch hunt and maybe not on the level…..

Excellent idea Susan! I feel the FDA is on a witch hunt as well. It’s so obvious! This is what I saw when I saw the first news coverage of Bravo! It makes me so mad. I don’t feed raw myself but I’m certainly NOT against it in any way.